I’ve released the next book following Hero’s Call. Shieldmaiden’s Quest picks up after the battle with Robin and the Thousand heading north to attempt to prevent civil war. To read a sample click the cover.
New Book Release
Overdue Update
It has been a while since I update the site. So here’s what has been going on in the past year.
I published Victoria Run, book 3 in the Blue in Kamloops series and it’s page is up and running, but I needed to post an announcement
Two new books are in the print proof stage and will be released this spring and summer.
One is The Clockwork Circus a stand alone book.
Frederick is forced to attend a prestigious academy for aetheric users, despite not having any ability to use aether. There must be reason, but no one will tell him. When the circus comes to town, everything changes.
The second in The Fae trilogy, Shieldmaiden’s Quest follows Robin into the Ancan Empire as it falls apart. Her job is to try to prevent civil war, but the land has other ideas.
I don’t have a cover yet, or even a proper title, but the fourth book in the Blue in Kamloops series is in the works. I’m hoping to have it out for the fall.
Calliope and the Engine Smith
The final book in the Calliope series! Click here to read a sample
ANTHOLOGY NEWS
Mythical Girls I think can be called a success. The feedback on the book I’ve received is positive, and all the books are out to the supporters.
The only logical thing to do now is to start over with a new anthology. In the next month or two I will be splitting my newsletter into two parts, one will continue to be occasional news about releases and upcoming books. The other will be directed specifically to those interested in Celticfrog Publishing projects such as the anthologies. You will be able to join one or both streams.
Look for information about a Kickstarter to come in the new year, and a call for submissions shortly after that.
A book I like, now in audio!
A GRIPPING YOUNG ADULT ADVENTURE!
About the Story:
Bensin, a teenage slave and martial artist, is desperate to see his little sister freed. But only victory in the Krillonian Empire’s most prestigious tournament will allow him to secretly arrange for Ellie’s escape. Dangerous people are closing in on her, however, and Bensin is running out of time. With his one hope fading quickly away, how can Bensin save Ellie from a life of slavery and abuse?
What is the Collar for, and What is a Cavvarach?
The story is set in a world very much like our own, with just a few major differences. One is that slavery is legal there. Slaves must wear metal collars that lock around their neck, making their enslaved status obvious to everyone. Any slave attempting to escape faces the dilemma of how and where to illegally get their collar removed (a crime punishable by enslavement for the remover).
Another difference is the popularity of a martial art called cavvara shil. It is fought with a cavvarach (rhymes with “have a rack”), an unsharpened weapon similar to a sword but with a steel hook protruding from partway down its top edge. Competitors can strike at each other with their feet as well as with the blades. You win in one of two ways: disarming your opponent (hooking or knocking their cavvarach out of their hands) or pinning their shoulders to the mat for five seconds.
More About the Story
Set in a world alarmingly like our own, The Collar and the Cavvarach is the story of fourteen-year-old Bensin, a slave, whose status is made obvious to everyone by the steel collar locked around his neck. A martial artist who competes to win money for his owner, Bensin fights in tournaments with a cavvarach. But his greatest battle is the struggle to protect his little sister from the horrors of legalized slavery in a world where slaves have few rights. Desperate to keep her safe, Bensin struggles to find a means – legal or otherwise – to arrange for her freedom.
(For a fun introduction to the story’s setting and its culture, including an explanation of how cavvara shil works, click here.)
Sound Like a Book you Might Enjoy?
Click the play button below to listen to the first 15 minutes of the story as narrated by Joseph Baltz.
Click here to go to the audiobook on Audible.
Click here to go to the audiobook on Amazon.
(Either way, try listening to the free sample to see what you think!)
Like to Read Along While You Listen?
The Collar and the Cavvarach ebook is available for FREE from July 14-18. Grab your copy now!
Enter the Giveaway to Win a Bundle of Action and Adventure eBooks!
About the Author
Annie Douglass Lima considers herself fortunate to have traveled in twenty different countries and lived in four of them. A fifth-grade teacher in her “other” life, she loves reading to her students and sparking their imaginations. Her books include science fiction, fantasy, YA action and adventure novels, a puppet script, anthologies of her students’ poetry, Bible verse coloring and activity books, and a fantasy-themed cookbook. When she isn’t teaching or writing, Annie can often be found sipping spiced chai or pomegranate green tea in exotic locations, some of which exist in this world.
Email: AnnieDouglassLima@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/princeofalasia
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/anniedouglasslima
LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/ADLimaOnLinkedIn
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A new book by Annie douglass Lima
In the Double Agent’s Service
a fantasy novel by Annie Douglass Lima
Book Description:
Erik would give his life to protect King Jaymin. However, when an old enemy shows up with new schemes, that may not be enough.
Erik would give his life to protect King Jaymin. However, when an old enemy shows up with new schemes, that may not be enough.
Anya longs to be noticed by the king’s handsome bodyguard. But as she finally gains Erik’s attention, the notorious spy and double agent Dannel blackmails her into fulfilling a favor she has owed him for years. Anya is forced into a terrible choice: save Erik’s life, or protect her homeland.
Can Erik and Anya thwart an assassin and prevent a war before Dannel destroys everything that matters to them and to the kingdom?
In the Double Agent’s Service is the final book in the Annals of Alasia. Here’s a glimpse of the rest of the series!
Prince of Alasia (just 99 cents through June 14th!)
An orphaned prince and his young bodyguard must disguise themselves and go into hiding after the kingdom of Alasia is overrun by invaders. Can Prince Jaymin save his kingdom – and himself?
In the Enemy’s Service (just 99 cents through June 14th!)
Enslaved by invaders, Anya spies on the enemy to help her captive people – but when her own father is implicated in the betrayal that led to the Invasion, can she save him?
Prince of Malorn (FREE through June 11th!)
Can Prince Korram recruit an army from among the elusive Mountain Folk and claim his rightful throne before power-hungry Regent Rampus crushes them all?
The Nameless Soldier (just 99 cents through June 14th!)
The lone survivor of a brutal attack, can teen warrior Tarvic reclaim his honor and find a way to fight for his crippled kingdom under enemy occupation?
King of Malorn (just 99 cents through June 14th!)
Pursued by assassins, can Princess Kalendria help her brother reclaim his throne and prevent a war – and catch the handsome neighboring king’s attention while she’s at it?
Annals of Alasia: The Collected Interviews ()
An orphaned prince. A devious double agent. A well-meaning merchant who may have just doomed his kingdom. Meet the citizens of Alasia and Malorn and prepare to be drawn into a tangled web of war and intrigue.
With the first six books ALL free or discounted, this is the perfect time to grab the whole series! Click here to see the Annals of Alasia series on Amazon.
Meanwhile, here is the first scene from In the Double Agent’s Service!
Pain.
Cold.
The smell of dry dirt.
A hard, gritty surface beneath his cheek.
Erik mentally catalogued the sensations in order of their intensity. He opened his eyes, blinked, and added another to the list.
Darkness.
Where am I? He struggled to sit up, and his pulse spiked at the realization that he couldn’t use his hands or feet. His ankles were bound together, and his wrists were tied behind his back.
What’s going on? Erik forced himself to a sitting position, noting the dirt floor beneath him, a rough wall at his back. Brushing his fingers over what he could reach of it, he discovered that the wall seemed to be made of the same hard-packed earth as the floor.
Am I underground? Though not completely smooth, the surfaces were too flat to be natural. Not a cave, then, but perhaps a cellar of some sort.
Or a cell.
He held his breath, straining his ears for any sound in the darkness. “Hello?” he whispered.
There was no response.
“Hello?” he said, a little louder. The acoustics hinted that he was in a small room. His head, already sore, throbbed anew at the sound of his own voice.
Erik leaned against the wall behind him, trying to keep calm. What happened? And where’s Jaymin?
Jaymin. Erik’s pulse started racing again. Had something happened to Jaymin?
Calm down, he ordered himself. He couldn’t afford to give in to panic. Instead, he would investigate his surroundings. Perhaps Jaymin was lying unconscious nearby.
Erik struggled to his feet and promptly smacked his head on a low ceiling. Dropping to his knees with a grunt of pain, he drew in a deep breath while a wave of dizziness rolled over him. When it passed, he shifted to a sitting position, bound legs in front of him. Moving slowly because every movement set his head throbbing, he began to crawl crab-like on his backside, feet, and hands. Keeping one shoulder against the wall, he scooted forward.
It didn’t take long to discover he was in a circular room, the walls curving back around toward where he had started. After eight steps, if he could call them that, his toes bumped something hard. Feeling with his feet, he discovered a stair in front of him, perhaps eight inches high. Shifting his weight, he leaned forward and took a little crouching jump into it. Another stair lay above it, and another. When he jumped onto the third stair, he winced as his injured head bumped the ceiling again.
Craning his neck and brushing an uninjured part of his forehead lightly back and forth against it, Erik discovered that the ceiling was made of wooden boards. Ducking lower with every hop so as not to bump it again, he made his way up the rest of the stairs until they ended at the wall. Twisting around, he hunched over awkwardly and ran his elbow back and forth across the low ceiling. As he had expected, a rectangular trapdoor lay just above him. He could feel the seams where its edges didn’t quite meet the surrounding boards. The hinges must be on the other side, but he thought he could detect a keyhole at one end. Nothing happened when he pushed up against the door with one shoulder, not that he had expected it to open for him.
Descending the steps again, Erik felt his way around the rest of the room. Eleven shuffling steps took him all the way around its circumference and back to the stairs. Criss-crossing the middle several times, he discovered it was completely empty.
If Jaymin wasn’t in here, where was he? Erik sat down and leaned against the wall, his head pounding from the exertion. Bending to brush it gently against his raised knees, he could feel a lump on his right temple. In addition, his upper lip was swollen and tasted like blood. It felt as though he had some bruises on his arms and torso, as well.
Erik closed his eyes — not that it made any difference in the complete darkness that surrounded him — and strained to recall what had happened. Had he and Jaymin been on a trip? He thought he remembered something about embarking on a journey. Where were they going? Was there an ambush? What happened to the palace guards who always accompanied the royal carriage?
Surely Jaymin couldn’t be dead. No one would kill the king but take his bodyguard captive. Would they?
And why would anyone take a bodyguard captive in the first place?
About the Author
Annie Douglass Lima considers herself fortunate to have traveled in twenty different countries and lived in four of them. A fifth-grade teacher in her “other” life, she loves reading to her students and sparking their imaginations. Her books include science fiction, fantasy, YA action and adventure novels, a puppet script, anthologies of her students’ poetry, Bible verse coloring and activity books, and a fantasy-themed cookbook. When she isn’t teaching or writing, Annie can often be found sipping spiced chai or pomegranate green tea in exotic locations, some of which exist in this world.Update
Right now the stories of Mythical Girls have been edited and I’m getting back final revisions. Two of the eleven illustrations are done too. We’re on schedule for our June release.
I will be releasing the last two books in the Belandria Tarot this year. Book Four I’m aiming for April, Book Five for July. Jian Guo, the talented artist who did the first three will be working on them.
Since I finished the Spruce Bay trilogy last summer, I have started a new series ‘Blue in Kamloops’, like Spruce Bay it will be a crime series. The detective for this one is Blue, a street person with a past he doesn’t talk about. I’m looking at a June release for the first book Tranquille Dark.
Update on Mythical Girls
I’m hugely excited to say that we’re at 80% of our goal with fifteen days left in the campaign. You can support the anthology here at Kickstarter.
There are only two Writer’s Packages left, get a full assessment of your book for plot, character and more.
We’ve also added the ability to bundle the anthology with other books by contributing authors. Check it out and support today.
Summer Release
My newest release is the third in the Spruce Bay books.
Mines are dangerous, never more so than when greed outweighs everything else.
When a series of events leads to the death of Georgia’s fiance, she packs up and heads south. Behind her Jim and Leigh struggle with their own issues. Training cadets to be special officers in the north sounds good, but when a class gets off track, it could be deadly.
Georgia can’t escape the grief and anger the mine caused with Brad’s death, and when she find echoes of that death in Peru, she sets her sights on making things right. Dangerous men don’t want her to succeed.
Links to buy: books2read.com/u/3L
New(ish) Release
I’ve relased the third in the Belandria Tarot, The Empire Unbalanced.
The series was originally planned to be four books, but the story refused to be contained and it will be five books.
Click on the cover to the right and read a sample of the book and learn where you can purchase it.
I will be looking for beta readers for book four this summer. That means to read the book, then tell me what you don’t like in it. Contact me if you are interested.